The present disclosure relates to a communication fee prediction device that predicts a communication fee that is charged to a data communication terminal that performs wireless communication, a communication device that performs communication by activating a communication application, a communication system in which the data communication terminal performs data communication, and a charging method of charging a communication fee per unit data to the data communication terminal that performs communication using a network.
While Wide Area Networks such as the Internet or mobile phone systems are widely used, it is recognized that the traffic thereof is not fixed but changes according to time band. For example, in Japan, the peaks of Internet traffic are distributed between 19:00 and 23:00 for both downloads and uploads (for example, refer to http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000055966.pdf (updated February 2010)). Due to the recent rapid increase in traffic, networks are becoming congested particularly during peak time bands, and there is a demand for counter-measures.
The fee structure of mobile phone services is generally configured by a basic usage fee, a communication fee, a packet communication fee, and the like. For example, the communication fee is a fee for the basic unit price of communication for a unit time, and the packet communication fee is set as a fee for the basic unit price of unit data amounts. Further, for example, there may be a case when the communication fee and the packet communication fee are set to be the values of the basic unit price according to the time band. Furthermore, for example, there may be a case when the communication fee and the packet communication fee are set to be a fixed fee for use within a given time range or a data amount range.
Many users use communication services by activating communication applications such as downloading of content without being aware of the congestion state of a network. However, if traffic becomes concentrated in excess of anticipated capacity, data loss occurs, wasteful processes such as retransmission occur, and huge loads are placed on the network, while the communication speeds for users decrease dramatically. In order to run a network stably without causing such a situation, it is preferable to construct network facilities with for a capacity for additional traffic besides the anticipated traffic, and for communication carriers to invest in facilities that take peaks in traffic into account.
While it is anticipated that data communication traffic will continue to increase in the future, augmenting facilities to support concentration in traffic will incur an enormous cost. Further, wireless resources still have limits regardless of whether facilities are augmented. Therefore, in order for many users to be able to use data communication, there is a demand to distribute traffic.
For example, a wireless communication system has been proposed that distributes traffic by surcharging the communication fee and displaying the surcharge on the terminal when the network is congested and discouraging users in such a case from activating communication as much as possible (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-109418). According to such a system, it is hoped that network congestion will be reduced as there is a possibility that the activation of a communication application of low importance will be avoided when a user sees the display. However, although such a system is able to suppress demand for communication and stabilize the network during network congestion, it is difficult to say that the system acts directly to reduce changes in the load of demand for communication, that is, to distribute traffic.